The doors have closed in downtown Chicago at the historic Chicago Theatre. This year’s League of Legends World Championship Quarter Finals was one of stomps and heartbreaks as we saw the death of North America’s Worlds dreams, the last breaths of China, and just last night, the end of a miracle run by wild card hopefuls Albus Nox Luna at the hands of Europe’s H2K.

Following the final game of the weekend I had the opportunity to talk with Neil “Prolly” Hammond, H2K’s head coach, and the mastermind behind their convincing 3-0 against Albus Nox, about his excitement over victory, the skill gap between regions, and being the final hope for North America.

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Logan Leavitt: Aside from a little bit of shakiness in game three, H2k was looking really strong tonight and managed to take a pretty easy 3-0, for you as a coach, how does it feel to watch your team show up like this on the Worlds stage? Neil “Prolly” Hammond: I'm glad that we're getting our normal aggression that we do in scrims into stage games, primarily early and mid game and the way we transition between those. But it's kind of bittersweet because as a whole piece we're still not doing the late game that we need to. So it's kind of one of those things where I don't know if it's a good thing but it's hard to be satisfied as a coach.

So although like, 'yay, we're doing the early-mid game aggression correctly,' the fact that we're not closing out games is still really bothersome cause we've been working on that so now I have to kind of approach it differently for next week [...] it's bitter sweet experience where I'm [thinking] 'yay we won, but I wish we won in a better fashion,' so it's definitely mixed feelings right now. Logan Leavitt: Chicago at this point-- it's behind you, you've punched your ticket to the Semi-Finals in New York, you're playing Samsung. What's the atmosphere like now with just a week to prepare? Neil “Prolly” Hammond: I think Samsung will be a bit more calming in a way because with [Albus Nox Luna] we knew going in the first game with the pick and bans that we were doing [there was] a chance that they had something prepared that we didn't know. So going into this week, it was kind of like game one had to be a throwaway basically like we were prepared [to maybe lose game one because they were gonna do something cheesy and we would have to adapt and change, so that was kind of hard to deal with going into the week because they are a very weird team.

But with Samsung Galaxy I feel like their meta is pretty similar to ours and they're pretty readable, so pick ban against them should be a lot easier. Play will be a lot harder for sure because they have a lot stronger early game [...] but for the team, [pick and ban is] a really important part, because going into a series knowing which champions you're going to play and they're going to play is calming to the players and to me as well. The second we lock in something that we wanted and they lock in the exact matchup that we wanted, there's no more guessing game or surprises, so it gives a lot of confidence. Logan Leavitt: In Quarter-Finals, obviously H2K was the last remaining LCS team and now in Semis we have three Korean teams, sixteen Korean players-- is the gap widening? What's going on? Neil “Prolly” Hammond: I know it's a meme that it's closing or whatever, but I actually think it is [...] if you looked at how LCS teams [in season 3] played and what they thought of the game in terms of their knowledge compared to like SKT it was gigantic. So that gap is closing. Where you can watch a Korean game and understand what they're doing. In Season 3 and kind of Season 4 they were doing things that no one could really fathom, like 'how are they doing that, why are they doing that;' we couldn't really reverse engineer their plays, but now it's a lot more possible, so that's why I think the gap is closing.

Because once knowledge becomes equal, it's a lot easier to progress. If knowledge is super off then, there's no way to really catch up. So I still think it's closing, but even if it's getting smaller, they're still better so it makes sense that there's three in the semi-finals [...] I don't understand the meme totally, 'cause if it's closing, they're still better, it's just they're not as much better as they were in Season 3 when it was like... we couldn't understand what they were doing; that's essentially what it was -- when SKT played we didn't know what they were doing. Logan Leavitt: Some would consider Semi-Finals very impressive for H2K, how do you balance the happiness with your team's achievement so far and the hunger to keep going and just- put behind you 'let's make it to finals'? Neil “Prolly” Hammond: I mean, that's easy for me -- I'm never happy. I really don't know why, like, it sucks, but it's a good thing I guess. Even when we won that 4-0 day during group stages, each game there's no excitement, it was just stoic face, like we have to win our next game.

There's really not enough time to focus on being happy cause it's really selfish to be happy and embrace that feeling. It's only for yourself. So if I sat there and [was] like, 'yay I'm so happy we won,' that's essentially time I'm not working and in between these games. During group stages and during quarters we don't have time between the games for me to be selfish, in my mind I have to use every second I can to actually be thinking of what to do next. During all the games, even in a best of series, I probably look more angry than anything because I'm just thinking, and everything that distracts me just makes me angry [...] and then after this series it was the same story I guess.

I mean, we won... but I wasn't excited because now we have to start prepping for Samsung Galaxy and we already were looking at some of their stuff.  I didn't want to jinx today and look at too much Samsung Galaxy. So I'm already trying to think of what to do against [them] and what we should have been changing for today so I haven't gotten to be happy yet. I think once I leave the venue and get out of my suit I'll be a little bit selfish. Logan Leavitt: On the other side of the bracket, Rox once again is facing off against SKT. Who do you have taking it out of New York? Neil “Prolly” Hammond: I hate that SKT is SKT. It's honestly really annoying. 'Cause if you vote against them you're just doing it to be cool or something, and on the other hand it is logical that SKT will win. Although I think Rox has a few advantages, it still comes down to mid to late game; Rox makes more mistakes, but they can play at the same level that SKT can, one hundred percent.

It's just they have a lot more chances to make mistakes. I think Rox has a slight edge in the early game, so I can see them getting advantages and then playing the game out well, but I think it's not going to be a 3-0, for sure. A lot of SKT best of fives are 3-0, 3-1 maybe, I think it will be a legit 3-2. I don't think there's a way it will be 3-1 in either direction, but I think SKT has the advantage just because their mid-late game is really smart. Logan Leavitt: What do you have to say to the NA fans. You're their last and final hope. The final hero. Any words? Neil “Prolly” Hammond: I'm actually kind of surprised a bit because I'm from NA but I've been in EU, so it's like I get the chance to trash talk both regions 'cause they're both my home, so if I make fun of EU you can't be mad I'm in EU, and if I make fun of NA it's like, 'I'm from NA- chill out.'

I've been dogging on NA more than EU recently, so I was surprised that they would accept me back. I was ready for a, 'you're a traiter, get out of here' thing, so it’s actually really nice to have that back and I know it makes my players happy 'cause they just think it's funny that people just know me from how I'm dumb essentially [...] I like the reaction from the fans and my players react well to it so it feels really good- cause I'm always on the sideline and kind of behind my players, and they should always be the focus, so it's nice to get some attention, cause normally I try to hide away if I can.

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This weekend, H2K will compete against Samsung Galaxy in the Semi-Finals at Madison Square Garden with the winner moving onto the Finals for a shot at the Summoner’s Cup.

I would like to thank Prolly for taking the time to participate in this interview.  

Image courtesy of Lolesports